The present invention relates to, exterior rearview mirrors for vehicles, and more particularly to a mirror including-a signal indicator.
Vehicle manufacturers conventionally located turn signals at the corners of vehicles to improve visibility of those signals when activated to signal a lane change or vehicle turning. Recently, manufacturers have began to include both torn signal and flat, mirrors in exterior rearview mirror assemblies to further improve signal visibility. Such signal mirror assemblies are particularly advantageous where a following vehicle is close, or where the equipped vehicle is a long truck or is towing a trailer.
Although recent signal mirror assemblies are useful, they suffer several shortcomings. For example, to accommodate both a sufficiently-sized flat mirror and a separate signal, the housing for the signal mirror assembly usually must be increased in size. In turn, the driver of the vehicle must take additional care to avoid colliding the larger mirror assembly with objects. Alternatively, the flat mirror of the signal mirror assembly must include a special coating that allows signal lights positioned behind the flat mirror surface to be seen through that surface* This special coating requires additional manufacturing techniques and extra labor to ensure that the signal lights align with the coating. In addition, the recent signal mirror assemblies include flat mirrors, and thus only provide limited rear viewing capabilities.